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Water Level Easing
Easing — down from 0.64 at 15:00, now 0.62
0.62

Molingey

St Austell River
Fal and St Austell Streams catchment • London Apprentice • Cornwall • ID: 48158 • Level
(35m ago) • 3 readings/hr • 115 views

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Current Level
0.615 m
▼ Easing
24h Max
0.643 m
24h Min
0.601 m
Typical Range
0.59 - 1.10
m
Highest Recorded
1.82 m
EA official record
1.71 in our data (since Jul 2004)
Current level is 34% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -2 cm over 8h
10 Oct 00:30 ▬ steady 0.615 m
10 Oct 00:00 ▬ steady 0.615 m
09 Oct 23:45 ▬ steady 0.615 m
09 Oct 23:30 ▼ -0.5 cm 0.615 m
09 Oct 22:30 ▲ +0.8 cm 0.620 m
09 Oct 22:15 ▼ -0.5 cm 0.612 m
09 Oct 22:00 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.617 m
09 Oct 21:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.619 m
09 Oct 21:00 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.620 m
09 Oct 20:30 ▬ steady 0.623 m
09 Oct 20:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.623 m
09 Oct 19:45 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.624 m
09 Oct 19:30 ▲ +0.2 cm 0.626 m
09 Oct 19:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.624 m
09 Oct 18:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.625 m
09 Oct 18:15 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.624 m
09 Oct 18:00 ▲ +0.2 cm 0.626 m
09 Oct 17:45 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.624 m
09 Oct 17:30 ▼ -0.5 cm 0.627 m
09 Oct 17:00 0.632 m

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Molingey
  • Watercourse: St Austell River
  • Nearest Town: London Apprentice
  • County: Cornwall
  • Nearest reservoir: Blackpool Pit (5.6 km) · 79.5% full (as of 31 May 2026)
  • Coordinates: 50°18'42"N 4°48'0"W (50.311776, -4.800075)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 27 Jul 1971
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: 48158
  • RLOI id: 3155 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: 48158-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 4 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Fal and St Austell Streams
  • Typical Range: 0.592 – 1.099 m
  • Drainage Area: 30 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Daily mean flow (m³/s) to 8 Oct (2 days behind — the EA publishes each day's mean a day or two after it ends; unchecked, provisional) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.62 m (EA at 10 Oct 00:00)
  • Flow Archive: National River Flow Archive ↗

Geographic coordinates may reflect the access point for the gauge, and not the precise location in the watercourse that it is taking readings from.

Nearby Stations

Gauges connected to this river, and others nearby. A distance “by river” follows the river on the map; any other is in a straight line.

Connected downstream

Nearby

Distances by river: OS Open Rivers. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

💧 Storm overflows upstream of this gauge

Storm overflows whose water reaches this gauge on the mapped river network, nearest first by distance along the river. The status is each water company's monitor: it says whether an overflow is discharging, not how much or what it contains.

1 storm overflow is traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 1.2 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 1 reports not discharging.

💧
South West Water · into Polgooth Stream · 1.2 km upstream along the river
2 spills · 1 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

Nearby, connection not known

Within 6 km in a straight line, but the river map cannot say whether their water passes this gauge.

💧
South West Water · into St Austell River(S) · 580 m away in a straight line · its recorded watercourse is not the one mapped beside it
3 spills · 28 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
St Austell WwTW (Menagwins)🏊 Bathing water
South West Water · into St Austell River · 1.5 km away in a straight line · its recorded watercourse is not the one mapped beside it
106 spills · 1,891 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Pentewan Pscso/EO🏊 Bathing water
South West Water · into St Austell River (S) · 2.6 km away in a straight line · its recorded watercourse is not the one mapped beside it
2 spills · 2 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Porthpean Pscso/EO🏊 Bathing water
South West Water · into St Austell Bay (C) · 2.7 km away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
South West Water · into Caerhays Stream · 2.9 km away in a straight line · its water cannot be followed on the map
13 spills · 43 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Charlestown Pumping Station🏊 Bathing water🦪 Shellfish
South West Water · into St Austell Bay, English Chanel · 3.5 km away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
18 spills · 51 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
South West Water · into St Austell Bay (C) · 3.6 km away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
30 spills · 58 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Daniels Lane CSO🏊 Bathing water🦪 Shellfish
South West Water · into Sandy River · 4.1 km away in a straight line · its water cannot be followed on the map
24 spills · 61 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

2 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.

1 other overflow within 6 km is downstream of this gauge or on another branch of the river network, so it is not listed.

These are the water companies' monitor statuses; a spill does not by itself explain a change in the gauge level. River connections and distances are traced on OS Open Rivers (edition 2026-04), which leaves out many small channels. Explore the sewage map →

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

How often this river runs high

In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 1.10 m on about 12 days. This year so far: 12 days.

2026 12 days, 2 of them high · 2 high so far
2025 15 days, 4 of them high · 4 high
2024 21 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
2023 12 days, 3 of them high · 3 high
2022 8 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
2021 12 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
2020 20 days, 7 of them high · 7 high
2019 7 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
2018 9 days, 5 of them high · 5 high
2017 7 days, 4 of them high · 4 high

Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out. The darker part is days above 1.25 m, the level this gauge tops only a few days a year.

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 9 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 4.6 km away).

7severe warnings 67flood warnings 247flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 2 Feb 2026 — South Cornwall Coast from Lizard Point to Gribbin Head excluding the tidal Fal Estuary

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 0 3 16
2025 0 5 23
2024 0 8 25
2023 0 3 13
2022 0 0 5
2021 0 0 9
2020 0 9 24
2019 0 4 18
2018 0 2 25
2017 0 0 11
2016 0 5 24
2015 0 2 14
2014 6 13 11
2013 0 0 6
2012 0 6 13
2011 0 0 8
2010 0 1 2
2008 1 0 0
2007 0 1 0
2006 0 5 0

Warnings apply to a whole flood area, not necessarily this exact spot. Years before 2006 aren't covered by the EA's historic record. See also the London Apprentice flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 9 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

Show 1 more

Catchment Character

🌊 Mixed response A balance of quick runoff and slower groundwater baseflow.

Your catchment is all the land that drains rainfall into the river above this gauge. Its character — how steep, wet, wooded, urban or chalky that land is — decides how fast rain here turns into a rising river. A steep, bare or clay catchment is “flashy” (rises and falls quickly, floods easily); a flat, chalk or well-wooded one is slow and steady. The tiles below put numbers to that; the flow-duration curve reads left-to-right from the river’s typical high flows (Q5) down to its low flows (Q95) — a steep curve means a flashy river.

The physical character of the land that drains to this gauge, and how it shapes its flood response — from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).

Baseflow Index
0.60
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,333 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +3% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
7.3%
partly urbanised
Highest Daily Mean Flow
5.36 m³/s
22 Dec 2012 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.8572.250.6530.2075% (high)% of days exceeded95% (low)
Daily flow (m³/s) exceeded each % of the time — a steep curve is flashy, a flat one is steady. Q5 high · Q50 median · Q95 low.
Land Cover (2023)
Woodland 10%Grassland 44%Arable 9%Heath/scrub 3%Urban 17%Other 18%
Grassland 40% → 44% since 1990

Flow affected by: groundwater abstraction, industrial / agricultural abstraction.

About this gauge

Flume on the St Austell River.

More detail

How it measures flow

Significant siltation in the flume which means that the flow data is in a constant state of flux.

Descriptions from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH). NRFA station record ↗

Gauge Details

How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).

Gauge type
Flume
Operating since
1971
Station datum
11.5 mAOD
Flow record
2004–2024 · 20 yrs · 100% complete
Hydrometric area
48
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the St Austell River at Molingey flooding today?

The current level is 0.62m, which is within the typical range of 0.59 to 1.10m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Molingey?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently falling slightly. The chart above shows the last 12 hours of measurements by default (up to 7 days), updated roughly every 15 minutes.

Why is the level slowly falling?

When little or no rain has fallen for a while, a river level gradually drops as the water stored in the ground and soil drains away with nothing to replace it. This is called baseflow recession and is normal in dry spells. Only about 5.5mm of rain has fallen nearby in the last 7 days, so the flow is being sustained mainly by groundwater. A gentle decline like this is expected and is not a sign of a problem — downstream gauges often recede a little faster than headwaters further upstream, and levels recover once rain returns.

What is a normal level for the St Austell River at Molingey?

The typical range at this station is 0.59m to 1.10m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.10m are higher than usually seen and may indicate a flood risk.

How often is this river level data updated?

Readings are supplied by the Environment Agency gauge. FloodRadar checks for updates roughly every 15 minutes; the timestamp above shows how recent the latest available reading is.

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Free live river-level widget — ideal for parish councils, angling clubs and local sites. Updates automatically.

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📮 Flood risk by postcode near this gauge

Postcodes within 5 km with properties in the Environment Agency’s rivers-and-sea flood-risk bands:

Check any UK postcode’s flood risk →

🏠 Buying or renting around here? Get the Property Flood-Risk Report for any English postcode — official risk band, recorded floods, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →